Covid took the life of another young person in Maryland in the 10-19 age group, according to latest report. 18th person of that age to die from the virus since the start of the pandemic

Covid took the life of another young person in Maryland in the 10-19 age group, according to latest report.
18th person of that age to die from the virus since the start of the pandemic

— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) July 8, 2022

Prince George's Students to Take COVID Tests Before Return From Spring Break

COVID-19 infections have increased in the D.C. area, including among some high-profile officials, and Prince George's County Schools is keeping a close eye on the case count as students leave for spring break.

Prince George’s County Schools CEO Monica Goldson announced Wednesday that the school system will require students to get tested for COVID and upload their results online before they return from spring break on Tuesday, April 19. All students were set to receive at-home test kits by Friday, Goldson said in a letter to parents.

Neighboring Montgomery County is asking that parents get their children tested, but it's not required...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/prince-georges-students-to-take-covid-tests-before-return-from-spring-break/3020551/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand&fbclid=IwAR2ogeCAlYU48q5nuoFaQCyZjFIakPqAOeIJ1IvjaZvT34_WCtmriHe8794

@mcps ONE Elementary School = 16 Staff COVID-19 + in ONE Day

 School                  Staff COVID +

Paint Branch High School 16

Chevy Chase Elementary School 16

Poolesville Elementary School 9

Central Office/Other 8

Francis Scott Key Middle Schl 7

Redland Middle School 7

Winston Churchill High School 6

Montgomery Blair High School 5

Galway Elementary School 4

South Lake Elementary School 4

Lakelands Park Middle School 3

Rolling Terrace Elem School 3

Strathmore Elementary School 3

Luxmanor Elementary School 3

Brown Station Elementary Schl 3

and more...

UNSORTED LIST OF CASES FOR JANUARY 10tH
CONTINUES AT THIS LINK

Video of Tom Hucker's Emergency Virtual Townhall on Schools

 Video of Tom Hucker's Emergency Virtual Townhall on Schools on January 9, 2022.

https://fb.watch/ar8k8mENOw/

Over 3000 live viewers during the meeting.  Many teachers and parents spoke.  No sign of Superintendent McKnight.

"If MCPS had tried their absolute hardest to come up with the very worst system possible for dealing with the current COVID situation, they could not have built this one. This one is infinitely worse. This mess is 100% MCPS’s responsibility."

1/5/2022 From BCC High School PTSA President:

Dear B-CC Families — I want to echo Dr. Mooney’s message from this afternoon.  I want to especially thank him for his calm in reporting on what the current situation is.  I know that he and the entire school admin team, teachers, and staff share the exact same frustrations that you feel.

Because I am a volunteer and MCPS cannot fire me and has to graduate my remaining student, I am going to say very bluntly what B-CC cannot. If MCPS had tried their absolute hardest to come up with the very worst system possible for dealing with the current COVID situation, they could not have built this one. This one is infinitely worse. This mess is 100% MCPS’s responsibility.  B-CC has risen to the occasion above and beyond, under incredibly difficult circumstances. 

Frederick County Public Schools provided information to parents earlier this week about bus routes that would not be running; MCPS sent its messages this morning AFTER high school students had already left to catch their buses.  As of now, B-CC has received no update on what bus routes will be running tomorrow. 

There is an acute shortage of bus drivers, substitute teachers, and other staff.  Administrators have become substitute teachers to try to cover classes, when they are not contract tracers and ad-hoc public health officers.  As of now, no plans have been communicated about how to handle this increasingly impossible situation. 

I know many students have been tracking raw COVID cases on the dashboards and are informing parents that B-CC is 2-3 cases away from 5%. Again, the school does not know for sure — the reporting is through a centralized Google form that requires a Google email account to access and file. We have likely broken the 5% mark, but no one knows, and no one knows what that means or whether or when anything will change. 

I empathize with all of you — with your exhaustion, with the inability to make plans, even to change jobs, because you do not know what the future holds for school for your kids. I know exactly how destabilizing and demoralizing this is for all our kids as well. They deserve so much better. It is every bit as much for teachers and staff and administrators, who are trying to navigate this mess personally and professionally. 

I’d like to suggest something positive, but quite frankly, I’m at a loss. I do not feel as if the Board of Education is listening. The media, hopefully, is to a degree. I do want to once again ask for your kindness and compassion toward everyone in our school. From our custodians and security guards and front office assistants to our cafeteria workers, teachers, resource teachers, counselors, and administrators, everyone deserves our deep thanks for showing up and keeping going. I’m sure there are many mornings when many of them would prefer to join the great resignation.

We are in this together; we will get through it together. Please find that last measure of kindness and patience you have been storing up for just such a moment. And of course, I remain thankful to all of you, particularly for your support, and thankful for the thing that matters most: our kids. 

Warmly, Lyric, BCC PTSA President

Jan. 5, 2022: Color Coded Map of Red/Yellow/Green @MCPS Covid-19 Positive Case Levels

Here is a map of what Montgomery County Public Schools look like today, January 5, 2022, with regard to the percentage of COVID-19 positive case levels among staff and students at each school.

 

Jan 5th: 126 @mcps @mocoboe Schools in RED Category for COVID-19 Positive Cases

School Cases Total Staff and Students Percent of Population

Brooke Grove Elementary School 54 519      10.40%

Parkland Middle School 120 1277 9.40%

RICA - Reg Inst for Child/Adol 14 152      9.21%

Sherwood High School 167 1966       8.49%

Rock Terrace School 12 143             8.39%

Candlewood Elementary School 34 420              8.10%

North Chevy Chase Elem School 21 260            8.08%

Meadow Hall Elementary School 37 459            8.06%

Rosa M. Parks Middle School 74 929           7.97%

Clearspring Elementary School 50 635            7.87%

Little Bennett Elementary Schl 57 733            7.78%

Damascus Elementary School 32 417            7.67%

Bethesda Elementary School 56 732                    7.65%

Dr. Sally K. Ride Elem School 43 565            7.61%

Westover Elementary School 24 318                    7.55%

Herbert Hoover Middle School 84 1114   7.54%

Summit Hall Elementary School 61 809          7.54%

Kensington-Parkwood Elem Schl 50 668          7.49%

A. Mario Loiederman Middle Sch 79 1059 7.46%

Walt Whitman High School 165 2213          7.46%

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High Schl 188 2530 7.43%

William Tyler Page ES 52 703                      7.40%

Burning Tree Elementary School 35 476 7.35%

Roberto Clemente Middle School 78 1061 7.35%

Strawberry Knoll Elem School 49 669 7.32%

Sherwood Elementary School 40 551 7.26%

Lake Seneca Elementary School 39 538 7.25%

Olney Elementary School 49 680 7.21%

Whetstone Elementary School 55 768 7.16%

Woodfield Elementary School 26 363 7.16%

Carderock Springs Elem School 27 378 7.14%

Beall Elementary School 40 562 7.12%

Brown Station Elementary Schl 48 676 7.10%

Rosemont Elementary School 49 692 7.08%

S. Christa McAuliffe ES 42 600 7.00%

Highland Elementary School 43 615 6.99%

Seneca Valley High School 156 2243 6.95%

Waters Landing Elementary Schl 57 825 6.91%

Forest Knolls Elem School 38 551 6.90%

Wheaton Woods Elementary Schl 42 612 6.86%

Snowden Farm ES 56 822 6.81%

DuFief Elementary School 22 324 6.79%

Sequoyah Elementary School 28 413 6.78%

William H. Farquhar Middle Sch 50 738 6.78%

Ashburton Elementary School 63 939 6.71%

Bayard Rustin Elementary Schl 55 823 6.68%

Cannon Road Elementary School 31 464 6.68%

Northwest High School 184 2773 6.64%

College Gardens Elem School 39 594 6.57%

Redland Middle School 45 688 6.54%

Mill Creek Towne Elem School 36 551 6.53%

Belmont Elementary School 25 384 6.51%

Newport Mill Middle School 48 737 6.51%

Fairland Elementary School 41 635 6.46%

Wheaton High School 172 2666 6.45%

Great Seneca Creek Elem School 39 607 6.43%

Dr. Charles Drew Elem School 36 561 6.42%

Monocacy Elementary School 12 187 6.42%

Damascus High School 98 1533 6.39%

Julius West Middle School 96 1502 6.39%

Greenwood Elementary School 38 596 6.38%

Tilden Middle School 73 1146 6.37%

Walter Johnson High School 200 3139 6.37%

Col. Zadok Magruder High Schl 114 1797 6.34%

Jones Lane Elementary School 30 473 6.34%

Quince Orchard High School 147 2320 6.34%

Carl Sandburg Learning Center 10 158 6.33%

Paint Branch High School 145 2292 6.33%

Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary 49 778 6.30%

Thurgood Marshall Elem School 37 589 6.28%

Lakewood Elementary School 30 480 6.25%

Wilson Wims Elementary School 41 657 6.24%

Rock Creek Valley Elem School 27 434 6.22%

Washington Grove Elem School 31 498 6.22%

Bannockburn Elementary School 29 469 6.18%

Wayside Elementary School 31 502 6.18%

Hallie Wells Middle Sch 67 1086 6.17%

Weller Road Elementary School 51 826 6.17%

Kingsview Middle School 68 1105 6.15%

Flora M. Singer Elem School 45 733 6.14%

Earle B. Wood Middle School 72 1174 6.13%

Eastern Middle School 64 1052 6.08%

Judith A. Resnik Elem School 40 660 6.06%

Gaithersburg High School 158 2615 6.04%

Lakelands Park Middle School 73 1214 6.01%

Neelsville Middle School 54 908 5.95%

Clarksburg High School 151 2546 5.93%

Albert Einstein High School 126 2127 5.92%

Cashell Elementary School 22 376 5.85%

Brookhaven Elementary School 27 463 5.83%

Gaithersburg Middle School 59 1014 5.82%

Sargent Shriver Elem School 49 849 5.77%

Rosemary Hills Elem School 35 610 5.74%

Rachel Carson Elem School 44 768 5.73%

Georgian Forest Elem School 37 647 5.72%

Rockville High School 92 1613 5.70%

Takoma Park Middle School 71 1247 5.69%

Oakland Terrace Elem School 31 546 5.68%

Northwood High School 116 2046 5.67%

Flower Valley Elem School 33 583 5.66%

Arcola Elementary School 41 726 5.65%

Lois P. Rockwell Elementary 29 514 5.64%

Watkins Mill High School 100 1802 5.55%

Winston Churchill High School 136 2459 5.53%

Wood Acres Elementary School 32 582 5.50%

Travilah Elementary School 22 401 5.49%

Viers Mill Elementary School 30 549 5.46%

Briggs Chaney Middle School 57 1064 5.36%

Westland Middle School 48 897 5.35%

Pine Crest Elementary School 28 526 5.32%

Fallsmead Elementary School 31 587 5.28%

Strathmore Elementary School 29 553 5.24%

Somerset Elementary School 26 497 5.23%

Thomas W. Pyle Middle School 76 1454 5.23%

Gaithersburg Elementary School 47 902 5.21%

Thomas S. Wootton High School 111 2132 5.21%

James Hubert Blake High School 100 1946 5.14%

Ridgeview Middle School 45 876 5.14%

Cabin John Middle School 59 1155 5.11%

Goshen Elementary School 29 568 5.11%

Glen Haven Elementary School 29 569 5.10%

Capt. James Daly Elementary 31 613 5.06%

Longview 6 119 5.04%

North Bethesda Middle School 64 1270 5.04%

John T. Baker Middle School 47 934 5.03%

Glenallan Elementary School 39 778 5.01%

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/Coronavirus/dashboaird/14-Day%20COVID-19%20Case%20Reports%20December%2023%20-%20January%205.pdf

BREAKING: ONLY EIGHT @mcps Schools Remain in the Green Category as of 1/5/22 COVID-19 Report

The MCPS January 5, 2022, COVID-19 Case Report has been released:  

 https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/Coronavirus/dashboaird/14-Day%20COVID-19%20Case%20Reports%20December%2023%20-%20January%205.pdf

MCPS EDUCATORS PLAN RALLY TO EXPOSE UNDERSTAFFING PROBLEMS

Educators from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) “will take to the streets Tuesday afternoon” to demand the hiring of additional teachers, paraeducators and bus drivers and increased compensation for those forced to do extra duties due to the hiring shortage.

Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) will hold a car picket and rally at 5 p.m. at the school district headquarters on Hungerford Drive in Rockville to demand that MCPS and the Board of Education stop pulling teachers out of their preparation and lunch times to help out in quarantined classes and classes where there is no substitute to lead the class.

An MCPS spokesperson said Tuesday that the staff was involved in the Board of Education meeting and would not be able to supply information on understaffing at this time.

According to a press release from MCEA, MCPS rejected a class action grievance, noting that these problems aren’t “widespread enough” to warrant universal action...

https://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-educators-plan-rally-to-expose-understaffing-problems/

ONLY ON WTOP: Children’s National ER employee cites staffing shortage for 10-hour waits

Children’s National Medical Center, in D.C., is in the midst of a staffing shortage as COVID-19 continues to affect more unvaccinated children and winter viruses, such as RSV, arrive early this year. One employee told WTOP it’s contributing to the longest emergency room wait times in recent memory.

An emergency room employee at Children’s National, who spoke anonymously to WTOP, fearing repercussions, expressed concern for patients who are waiting for care and employees who are working shifts without adequate staffing in a pandemic. The worker said emergency room wait times at Children’s “routinely approach 10 hours,” saying it happens two to three times a week.

“We are at six hours pretty much every day now in the busy evening times,” the employee said...

https://wtop.com/dc/2021/09/only-on-wtop-childrens-national-er-employee-cites-staffing-shortage-for-10-hour-waits/

Opinion: As an aerosol scientist, I know schools need masks, HEPA filters and outdoor lunches

The school year is beginning across Colorado while the Delta variant of COVID is racing through children at higher rates than at any previous time. Although we are all bone-tired of the pandemic, we need to take stronger measures to protect our unvaccinated kids. We all want children to attend school in person and avoid bouncing to online modalities. To make that happen, all Colorado schools need to follow the near-unanimous advice from state, regional, and national public health agencies and medical groups to mandate indoor mask-wearing, install more portable HEPA filters, and institute safer lunchtime procedures to slow COVID transmission.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to be an ever-stronger adversary and is now far more contagious, even among young children. The delta variant is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in Colorado. That is, in part, because people infected with Delta can harbor a thousand times more virus than the original strain, and some vaccinated individuals can spread it.

Children under 18 are being hospitalized with serious cases both in higher numbers and at a faster rate of increase than at any point thus far. While most children recover from COVID, some die, and an increasingly high number are showing “long-COVID” symptoms, including serious physical and neurological effects that could last a lifetime. Children infected at school can also spread the disease back to their homes, communities, the elderly, and the immunocompromised...

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/08/19/schools-masks-aerosol-hepa-filter-covid-19/

Breaking - Tuesday: Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight to Announce 5 Point Plan.

After evaluating the first two weeks of the school year, Dr. McKnight will be announcing to the Montgomery County Council a 5-point plan that will strengthen and enhance MCPS' current COVID-19 response.  

 

1. Appoint a health officer for MCPS.
2. Establish a COVID-19 operations advisory committee.
3. Create a COVID-19 dashboard on our website.
4. Launch an outreach campaign (“Say yes to the test”) to increase the number of students who participate in COVID-19 screening testing.
5. Provide additional support (including some staff from central office) to help with schools’ COVID-19 response efforts.